Kaipara Excavators Ltd was formed on the 5th of June 1957 with the company changing its name to Kaipara Ltd on the 8th of May 2000. During the years it has used a number of helicopters and aircraft in support of its quarrying and mining operations. It has long standing links with the coal mining at the Stockton open cast mine north of Westport and gold mining operations on the West Coast.
It was in 1981 that it acquired its first aircraft in the form of Bell 206B Jet Ranger III ZK-HTA (c/n 3404) which was registered to Kaipara Excavators Ltd on the 7th of December 1981. With the change of company name it was registered to Kaipara Ltd on the 30th of August 2000. In May 2004 it was sold to Marlborough Helicopters (1981) Ltd.
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| Kaipara Excavators' Bell Jet Ranger ZK-HTA at Timaru on 30 January 1988 |
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| Kaipara Excavator's first aircraft, Cessna 402 ZK-FXS at Hokitika on 25 January 1994 |
Meanwhile in January 2011 the Kaipara Excavators operation leased Beech C90GTi King Air N890LG (c/n LJ-1854) from Wells Fargo Bank to support the company's business operations on the West Coast. The aircraft arrived from the USA on the 13th of January. It was a regular visitor to Westport flying a regular weekly flight from Ardmore. It made its first flight to Westport on the 17th of January 2011.
On the 4th and 18th of June Kaipara Excavator’s, Beech King Air N890LG made what were its last regular return flights from Ardmore to Westport for on the 21st of June 2014 it departed New Zealand on its way to Australia on export where it became VH-VWG on the 21st of August 2014.
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| Kaipara Ltd's newly acquired Beech C90 King Air at Ardmore on 26 January 2011 |
The Beech King Air was replaced by Cessna 510 Citation Mustang ZK-YDZ which was placed on the New Zealand civil register for Brookby Quarries Ltd on the 21st of May 2015. The Mustang arrived into New Zealand from Australia on the 1st of April 2015 as VH-YDZ. Its first flight to Westport was on the 15th of April. The MRC Aviation blog reported Its first flight as ZK-YDZ appears to have taken place on 03 June 2015 when it flew from Ardmore to Westport. It was also a visitor to Hokitika. It was with Brookby Quarries until the 22nd of July 2016 when it was sold to Napier-based Skyline Aviation Limited.
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| ZK-YDZ manoeuvring at Ardmore on 26 May 2015. MRC Aviation photo |
Brookby Quarries replaced ZK-YDZ with a leased Cessna 510 Citation Mustang N890LG which was delivered on the 22nd of October 2016. On the 4th of November 2016 it flew a return flight from Auckland to Westport, and followed by a Ardmore-Hokitika-Westport-Ardmore flight. On the 21st of September the Cessna 510 Mustang, N890LG flew Ardmore – Wellington – Hokitika – Wellington – Ardmore. This was its last domestic flight and it departed New Zealand on the 8th of November 2018 for the United States.
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| Cessna Citation C510 Mustang N890LG was returning from Hokitika, 3 September 2019 |
In 2018 Brookby Quarries Ltd acquired Bell 505 Jet Ranger X ZK-HTI which was registered to the company on the 24th of August 2018. It was operated by Brookby Quarries Ltd until April 2024, with its registration being cancelled as exported on the 8th of April 2024.
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| Brookby Quarries Bell 505 Jet Ranger X at Tauranga on the 16th of November 2020 |
The replacement for N890LG was another American registered Cessna 510 Mustang, N2WG (c/n 510-0459) which arrived into New Zealand on the 19th of April 2021. It started work on the 28th of that month flying Ardmore–Hokitika–Christchurch–Hokitika–Ardmore.
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| Brookby Quarries' Cessna Citation Mustang N2WG at Hokitika on 13 May 2024. Photo : M Beaven |
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| Cessna Citation Mustang N2WG again, this time arriving back into Ardmore on 17 June 2024 following a flight to Hokitika and Christchurch. |
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